


Falling from Grace

by Jinxtheshifter



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:13:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24519004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinxtheshifter/pseuds/Jinxtheshifter
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. ~Chapter One~

War ravaged the large island, leaving most of it uninhabitable. The dragon shifters from Azeran were forced to flee their home and to another kingdom, once the race of man came. You see before the War of Races took place, magical creatures lived freely, isolated from the rest of the world. Then the race of man came and settled on the island, forcing many to flee. Those that ran into the race of man were captured and sold for money. Now no magic race is safe from man's greed. Only eighteen years ago did the war come to a stalemate, a human princess married a dragon shifter prince from the neighboring kingdom of Lytos. The prince was not keen on marrying the girl, after all her race percicuted his, and he loved another. The human girl was very excited all those years ago, she had read stories where the prince would sweep the princess off her feet, plus dragon shifters are incredibly beautiful. That happened eighteen years ago, two years into the marriage they had a daughter, named her Milah, after her grandmother. Later they would be blessed with twin boys, Miles and Finn. The now king, named Chiron, didn’t spend much time with the children. He said he was busy, but anyone could see that he didn’t want to be there, wincing every time his new family hugged him. He looked out the windows toward the snowy mountains often, Milah simply thought it was a longing for home. He did long for something, but not home, he missed his people and Mercedes.

Mercedes was a light pink and white feathered dragon shifter, she was the princess of Azerath. They were close, due to their betrothal to one another, but it was broken off so Chiron could marry princess Viola. Though by the time the wedding had been canceled Mercedes was pregnant. So in secret they married and had twins, Zatara a girl, and Kai their boy. Around the time Milah was born they had triples Sky, Roy, and Leo.

Chiron no longer got to see them because he was king, he had duties. He was about to deal with another, when he was called away to break up another dispute between some maɉĩ(magical creatures) and a human, these happen too often. So his wife was left to handle the duties in the castle while he was in the village. There was a certain duty that had been needing his presence, not the queens. That duty was stopping the potching and selling of maɉĩ in the human world.

“You stand before the Queen of all living creatures, Viola Quention-Phoenix.” One of the guards announced once the bag had been taken off the girls head as she was forced down to her knees on the floor. The girl had horns, a tail, and wings, holding her head up high as she was not ashamed of what she was. Looking closely you can see a faded scar on her neck, a clear cut that would kill. The queen looked down at the dirt covered girl in disgust, after all who wouldn’t look at the person that could start a rebellion just by being alive. This was Zatara Calahan or Phoenix though many call her Athena, if you were well informed, she had been gathering quite a following in the north.

“You have been charged with high treason against the crown, attempting to start a rebellion and take the throne for yourself. Do you have anything to say in your defence?” another guard told her the charges and walked to stand by his queen, close to her at that.

“Ok yeah sure starting the rebellion, no to the throne, at least the human one at that. Also aren’t you standing just a wee bit close to the queen, and I know it’s not for protection so don’t try that act. I can smell it all over you, I’m sure my dad knows, he just doesn’t give a shit about it or well you in general, as long as he isn’t involved.” Zatara stated with a smirk on her face, loving the facial expressions on everyone’s faces with that secret now revealed. This irked the queen so intensely that she threw back her hand and proceeded to bring it forward with the force of a hurricane.

“How dare you speak to me in such a way you curl. Know your place filth.” Viola spoke while glaring down with a sneer on her face. With that she turned away and began walking to the throne, where she sat to face her prisoner. Said girl was glaring daggers into the queen before her, after all she was royalty. It’s embarrassing to be kneeling to a foregin ruler, especially that of a human.

While the queen began speaking the girl looked around the room, this being the first time she was there in person. The guards are only stationed at the entry to the throne room and at the throne where the queen sat. The room had very large windows none of them guarded, free range to escape. Zatara used her bladed tail to begin cutting the ropes that bound her hands, feet, and wings. She had to leave no matter what, since the queen had plans to have her executed for doing what was right. Zatara noticed that Viola had stopped talking, so the dragoness just grinned a fanged smile and flung herself out the window. She kept her wings tucked into herself, free falling to the ground until the last second. At this moment she unfurled her wings and gilded over the city at a swift pace. Once at her hideout she gathered supplies and a satchel to carry everything, for she could hear the thundering footfalls of Viola’s soldiers coming her way. Hearing this she flew out the secret exit that was only for emergencies. Zatara looked back to see her hideout burning to the ground, with that last image she flew off into the darkened sky and off the island.

Thunder and lightning flashed and boomed in Zatara’s ears and on her face. She struggled to keep her eyes open with the rain pelting her skin. Her wings beat at a feverish pace, a weak attempt to stay in the air and not plummet into the icy waters below. A light flickered in the distance, with her sharp sight Zatara determined that it was in fact a ship, though unaware if it was a marine or pirate one. Her eyes began to droop, wings slowing, she started to fall from the sky. Zatara flapped her wings harder than ever trying to reach the boat. Once it was in sight, she landed and instantly passed out, without looking at the ship's flag.


	2. ~Chapter Two~

Zatara opened her eyes to only see metal bars, and the feeling of chains on her wrists and ankles. She tugged and pulled with all her strength, but the chains didn’t budge even a bit. Seeing as it was useless to try she took a look around, she was horrified by what she saw. Many humans behind bars, a giant, and somehow a mermaid in a fishbowl. She saw that the one thing they all had in common was the collar and chains, that's when she realized that they were at an auction shop and they were the products. Zatara proceeded to groan and lay her forehead against the bars, she must have landed on a pirate ship and they sold her to this place. The mermaid next to her had heard her groan and spoke to her.

“Are you ok, I noticed you just woke up. I would have awoken you earlier, but you looked so tired and peaceful.” the mermaid spoke, she had also given Zatara her name, Kemi. She said that her friends would come and rescue them all. Kemi said that these friends were pirates called the Strawhats, she said that unlike other pirates they were kind. Zatara could gather that they were very kind and Kemi cared for them all dearly, and that meant that they could all escape this horrible place. Not long after the two girls had their conversation, four men looking like umpalumpas came into the back and opened Zatara’s cell. They grabbed the chains and tugged her forward, leading her to the stage to be sold. They also wheeled out Kemi to sell them as a pair.

Once they reached the stage and the curtains were pulled back, Zatara wanted to cover her ears due to the loud cheering. She had been tugging at the chains, not cooperating with the men whatsoever. Zatara looked at the crowd seeing so many humans, she was disgusted by each one of them, until she saw a group of pirates in the back. She recognized their descriptions from Kemi, they were the strawhats. Seeing them encouraged her to fight against her captors even more.

In the back there were three groups of pirates, the Kidd pirates, Strawhats, and the Heart pirates. They all hung out in the back, upon seeing the dragoness they began conversing with their crew members. The captain of the Kidd pirates was Eustass ‘Captain’ Kidd, and began to talk to his first mate, a man named Killer.

“A mermaid and dragon, real ones and girls at that. Who would have thought, right Killer? Think we should bid on one?” Kidd asked his friend, the other man said not to, for they could just steal them afterward. On the other hand the Heart pirates captain was Trafalgar Law, who had a similar plan, he was very interested in the dragoness. The strawhats however, were more concerned with the fact that she was looking directly into Nami’s eyes, like she knew the navigator. Kemi was up there with the girl, so they were concerned for her safety. All the while the pirates conversed the auction for the mermaid and dragoness had begun. The man selling them was named Disco, and he was introducing the dragon to all the corrupt officials.

“This lovely creature as some of you may know is a dragoness, but not just any dragon. No she is royalty, the princess of Azeran, the would be next queen. She is only twenty at the moment, a ripe young age, perfect time to be married off.” the idiotic man had gotten a little too close to the cage they kept her in. Zatara used her claws to grab the collar of his ridiculous dress and lifted him off the ground. While off the ground she pulled her arm back and hit him against the bars of her cage. The audience laughed at this even as Disco was torn from her claws and the dragoness was given a shock with a cattle prod.

Now that was the last straw for her, Zatara began to throw herself against the cage bars. Ramming into the sides to slowly destroy it, even though she had a explosive collar on. The Strawhat boy had burst through the auction house and had started to run down the stairs, though he was stopped by a fishman. A celestial dragon, who had bid on Kemi and Zatara, had shot the octopus looking man, exclaiming that he got a fishman for free. Luffy, the boy in the straw hat proceeded to punch him, and while all this was happening the dragoness was tearing the cage apart. She had even gone as far as tugging and setting off her collar to destroy what she couldn’t.

Kemi had freaked out seeing the explosion go off, only to find the dragon stepping out of the cage, chains gone and anger stitched on her face. Her clothes were singed and revealed the blue-black scales that covered parts of her body. Zatara then turned to Disco as he held a smoking gun, the bullet laid on the floor, flat as a pancake. She proceeded to throw him across the auditorium and turning back to Kemi, she ordered her to go to the bottom of the tank. Zatara then used her tail to slice the top of the bowl off, and went to help the mermaid out of the water and to her friends. Both girls noticed people falling over after a pulse of power hit them, a old man stood behind them, Zatara remembering him to be the dark king Rayleigh.

“My oh my you sure have gotten bigger, I haven’t seen you since you were a hatchling. I’m glad to see that there are some others who could withstand my haki. Big names in here, huh.” Rayleigh spoke to Zatara like one would a child, she growled a little when he gave her a pat on the head. She had missed the old man, but knew better than to show weakness in front of pirates by crying, even happy tears. All Zatara wanted to do was tell him about what had been going on back on her home island, but she was interrupted. “Now I’ve done enough for you all, there’s a squadron of marines waiting outside for you. Oh right, Trafalgar I have a tiny request for you, take care of Z here. Hide it all you want, but you're losing quite a lot of blood from that arrow. Next time we meet, tell me who shot you, they will regret it.” Rayleigh then proceeded to pick her up bridal style, handing her off to Trafalgar Law and showing him where the arrow had gotten through her near impenetrable scales. With that Zatara began to lose consciousness once again.


	3. ~Chapter Three~

When Zatara regained consciousness, she saw that someone had bandaged her stomach. She got up and heard over the TV that Portgas D. Ace was going to be executed in less than an hour. Grabbing her clothes and getting dressed, Zatara walked out of the medbay and out of what she thought was a ship. She saw that she was already at Marineford, where Ace’s execution was being held.

Transforming into her dragon form, she flew over to the battlefield, seeing marines and pirates fighting everywhere she turned. People began to take notice of her demanding presence, including the warlords, whitebeard pirates, and admirals. The warlords and admirals were confused as to why she had shown up. After all, what would a dragon want with some filthy pirate, especially if said pirate was sentenced to death.

Taking to the air once again Zatara breathed white flames down on the maines. It was now apparent that she was working with the pirate’s and was here to save Ace. Said man was looking at her disbelief, he didn’t think she would come for him, not after the way they left things. When Ace found out she was pregnant and wasn’t getting rid of it, he left her thinking she would be safer if he wasn’t around.

Zatara couldn’t get too close to the platform where Ace was because the admiral’s were guarding it, and they could do some serious damage to her. Landing on the frozen ground she began to fight the marines that tried to get close to her, while trying to get the admirals to leave their positions. Then she heard something strange, it sounded like a large group of people were screaming. Looking up she saw that a shit ton of people in prison get ups were falling from the sky. They made quite the impact when they landed, it was very comical to Zatara, who would have laughed if not for the situation she was in.

She saw the boy with the strawhat from the auction house, Monkey D. Luffy now she understood why he looked familiar, he’s Ace’s brother. Shrinking down into her hybrid form Zatara walked over to both Whitebeard and Luffy, who was standing next to him. Hugging Pops leg for a moment or two, then looking back at the battle.

“It’s good to see you Pops, though I wish it was under better circumstances. And your Luffy, Ace told us about you, I’ll try and get you as close as I can since you have the key to his cuffs.” She said after looking at Luffy’s hand when she said those words Luffy’s eyes started sparkling and he gave her a huge hug. With that the two began to run across the battlefield, Zatara keeping most of the marines away from Luffy. They had a bit of help from the other pirate’s, mainly whitebeard’s crew under Pops order to keep the two safe.

Sengoku announced that Luffy had been raised as Ace’s stepbrother and was a threat in the making, many marines choosing to try and kill him as well. He also told everyone that Zatara was confirmed to be seen with Ace only once, so they were still unaware of their relationship. The world government only thought that the two were allies, which was kinda true.

They had gotten pretty far when the warlord Dracule Mihawk stood before them. Zatara protectively got in front of Luffy, knowing that Mihawk could kill the boy. She glared at the man as he drew his sword and sliced at them. They dodged in time, Vista coming to face off Mihawk so the two could get to Ace. The admirals were all distracted and away from the platform, they were almost there when Garp got in their way.

Zatara told Luffy to go on, that she would handle the old marine. Garp was angry and sad at the thought of Ace and Luffy possibly going to die, but he was a marine and had to do his job. The two faced off, Garp making the first move charging at the dragoness. She evaded and attacked with a slash of her claws, Zatara didn’t let up or give him time to react or fight back before she hit him again. She had one thing on her mind getting back Ace, they had to make up after how things were left.

Suddenly there was an explosion of fire on the platform, meaning that Ace had gotten the cuffs off and they could go now. Zatara kicked Garp away from her, flapping her wings to fly over to Ace and Luffy. Reaching the two she gave Ace a brief hug and began to pull him by his wrist so they could escape. Ace looked at her and Luffy, opening his mouth to speak.

“Luffy, Zatara why did you come here, you could have gotten killed.” Ace asked the two while they were running occasionally punching away some marines that got too close. They didn’t really give Ace an answer, they just kept running. “Zatara I’m so sorry for how I acted, I should have been happy. I was just really scared.”

“Ace it’s okay, now come on we don’t have a lot of time left to escape.” Zatara responded while looking ahead of her for any sign of danger. Seeing none they were almost home free, until one of the admirals spoke up, this admiral being Akainu. He was the one that Zatara was most worried about, because he had no qualms killing anyone who disobeyed the law. He had begun to talk shit about Whitebeard, and while Zatara was angry at this she kept her calm and went to run again. Ace however couldn’t and wanted to fight the admiral.

“Ace, he's trying to provoke you, so we make a mistake. Don’t fall for it, nothing he says is true, we both know that. Let’s just leave, come on please Ace.” Zatara tried to calm him down and get Ace to just leave, but he wasn’t having it and attacked the admiral. Somehow during the fight Luffy dropped Ace’s vivre card and went to pick it up away from Zatara. Akainu saw this and went to attack Luffy from behind, the dragoness being too far to reach in time.

Time seemed to freeze when Akainu finished his attack, seeing the victim of his magma fist, made Zatara scream out in anguish. Getting to the two, she took Ace’s face in her hands as Luffy held him up by his front. Ace had taken the blow to save his brother, having his insides roasted. Tears began to flow down Zatara’s face as she tried to come to terms with what had just happened in that split second.

“Ace..it’ll be okay…” when she said that it was more for her and Luffy because she knew it wasn’t going to be okay, he was going to die. Ace looked over at her, giving a weak smile while blood started to come out of his mouth.

“Zatara I’m sorry for leaving you when you needed me most, I acted like a child. Please be safe, all of you for me.” Ace was trying to speak, though it was very weak as he didn’t have much time left. Ace then spoke to Luffy and thanked him for being his family and asked the boy to keep the people Ace loves safe from the world government. With those final words Ace passed, Zatara gently took the body from Luffy and laid him on the ground.

Luffy was in shock at what happened and began to scream, so Jimbe picked up the boy and he along with Zatara escaped on a submarine that was nearby. Zatara then took notice that her stitches had come undone and she passed out due to exhaustion once she entered the sub.


	4. ~Chapter Four~

Zatara opened one eye slowly, then the other as she rubbed the sleep away. She went to get up, but had to sit down almost instantly getting dizzy, plus her side hurt like all hell. That's when she remembered that she was on a sub in the medbay for her side. She then saw Luffy on life support, wondering what had happened to him. Seeing a newspaper on a nearby table, what was on it broke the already shaky dragoness. On the cover was Portgas D. Ace, they had proclaimed him dead along with Whitebeard. She had hoped that it was all just a bad dream, but it wasn’t. Her allies and friends were dropping like flies, the Whitebeard pirates being disbanded with their captain and second division commander being dead. She was just glad that the world government didn’t know of the child she and Ace had, Portgas D. Kyro, their son was less than one year old.

“Glad to see that you’re up and walking around,” Trafalgar Law entered the room and noticed her looking at the paper still, “were you two close? Is that why you went to save him?” the slightly taller man asked. Zatara turned toward him and growled as he tried to step closer, until she saw that he was holding her baby. She went to grab the child, but Law moved out of the way, repeating his question.

“Yes we were close, now give me my baby!” The female raised her voice at Law, distressing the baby with the change in volume. She immediately began cooing at the child once he was retrieved from the captain's arms. Zatara glared at Law for even touching the child, he only returned the glare with a toothy grin. The doctor smirked and opened his mouth to speak.

“You know that’s no way to thank the person who saved your life. That arrow head was lodged pretty deep in your side, and lucky it didn’t hit any organs. Then you decided to enter the battle at Marineford and reopened the stitches.” Law spoke as he showed her the arrow head he extracted from her during surgery. Right she had forgotten that a soldier had got a lucky shot in. Suppose Zatara was being a bit too mean, after all not all humans were monsters.

“Sorry, but I don’t know you, and you had my child in your arms. Plus my friends are kinda dropping like flies.” she replied with a questioning look on her face. “Who are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Ah yes I’m Trafalgar Law, Captain of the Heart pirates, the crew you will now be joining.” He ended his sentence with a smirk. Zatara was tempted to wipe that expression off his face, it took everything in her not to throttle the man in front of her. She began to weigh her options, pros is that she could find a safe place to keep her son. Cons she would be hunted by the world government with a bounty on her head.

“Alright Trafalgar I’ll join you, after all I’m already a wanted criminal. Being a pirate can’t be that different.” She decided while looking at her baby. This was the best course of action to keep her family safe, and a chance to get new allies. “Though I must ask something of you first.” turning her sights back on Law, Zatara knew what she had to do even if it broke her heart.

“What is it? Let me guess it has to do with the little one in your arms.” Law kept smirking at Zatara, irking her just a bit though not enough for her to shout at her new captain. Revealing her master plan to the tactician in front of her. “So you want me to pose as his father, while you continue to gain allies. Eventually raising a big enough army to oppose not only the world government, but the entire kingdom of Lytos?” nodding his head Law agreed to the situation, jokingly asking if this made him her boyfriend.

Rolling her eyes Zatara glazed down at her precious son, stroking his raven hair to make it seem less of a mess. Kyro opened his glacier blue orbs to stare back into his mother's own, he had been lucky not to have very noticeable freckles due to his tanned skin. Law stood off to the side leaning on the wall, admiring the woman for staying so put together after just losing so many people she was close to.

Soon they arrived at amazon lily to drop Luffy off with Boa Hancock, before they left however Zatara wanted him to meet Kyro. Just so Luffy knew that Ace wasn’t truly gone, he is survived by his son, though the world can’t know this for some time. When Luffy was introduced to his nephew, he started to cry and break down because he could already see his brother in the infant. With that the heart pirates with the two newest additions to the crew, headed off for the new world. Ready to take the world by storm, Zatara steeled her nerves and put faith into her captain, prepared for the difficult journey ahead.


End file.
